Philly schools will continue to allow transgender athletes to participate in sports that match their gender identity

The Philadelphia School District has indicated that it will ignore a rule directing schools to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports that match their gender identities.

The move comes after the state’s interscholastic athletics governing body changed a key policy regarding transgender athletes.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors last week voted to revise its transgender athlete policy to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, who made attacks on trans athletes a key part of his campaign for a second term.

Previously, PIAA had said that “where a student’s gender is questioned or uncertain, the decision of the Principal as to the student’s gender will be accepted by PIAA.” The new policy strikes references to gender and replaces them with sex and also changes principal to school.

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It also adds this directive in the meeting summary: “In accordance with the Presidential Executive Order 14201 entitled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’, dated February 5, 2025, schools are required to consult with their school solicitors relative to compliance with the Order.”

PIAA believes that Trump’s executive order “is binding to all PIAA member schools that accept federal funding,” said Lyndsay Barna, PIAA assistant executive director. “The board is following the order.”

The policy shift will have ripple effects across the state, with districts pushed to either revoke existing policies or defy federal authorities.

While Philadelphia plans to continue allowing students to compete in the sports that align with their gender identity, some other local districts said they are reviewing the new policy.

It’s not clear how many transgender athletes compete in PIAA sports statewide, as the state does not keep track and schools are not required to keep records of or report that information.

Kristina Moon, an attorney with the Education Law Center, said Trump’s executive order does not carry the weight of law or supersede Title IX, state law preventing gender discrimination, or multiple court decisions that side with the rights of trans students. And though the PIAA’s action in practice applies to a very small number of trans athletes, it’s more about the larger context, she said.

“It’s part of a broader, really harmful politicization of trans folks in general, and part of the scapegoating of students who just want to be able to attend school and be themselves and participate just like everybody else,” Moon said. “It’s making trans folks and trans students out to be some sort of harmful bogeyman, and it can make school environments really hostile for students.”

Still, schools that participate in PIAA games — which is virtually all schools — are bound by PIAA rules. What should districts do?

“They could comply,” Moon said, “or they could challenge it in court, or with a complaint” to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

Philadelphia School District officials said the district “strives to ensure safety, equity and justice for all students regardless of gender identity or gender expression so that they can imagine and realize any future they desire,” spokesperson Christina Clark said in a statement Tuesday.

“The district will continue to align its practices to support its LGBTQ+ students in accordance with Board Policy 252 for transgender and gender non-conforming students,” the statement read.

Philadelphia adopted one of the earliest and most progressive policies for transgender students when it voted, in 2016, to use students’ pronouns and allow them to use bathrooms of their choice and to participate in sports that match their gender identity.

Philadelphia’s Policy 252 forbids school staff from disclosing a student’s chosen gender identity, even to their parents, and says that “transgender and gender nonconforming students shall be permitted to participate in physical education classes and intramural sports in a manner consistent with their gender identity. Participation in competitive athletic activities and contact sports will be resolved on a case-by-case basis.”

The policy also discourages district staff from gendered practices, such as assigning male students one color graduation gown and female students another, or encouraging students to form lines of boys and girls.

“Keep in mind that gender identity typically develops between ages 3 and 5, so even kindergarten students can be confident of their gender identity,” school district guidance on implementing the policy reads.

Philadelphia does not rely much on federal funds for its $4.5 billion operating budget.

But its federal grant funding is substantial — in this school year alone, federal grants for things like special-education services and early childhood programs make up $619.3 million.

That’s a higher-than-usual amount because of COVID-19 relief money, which is now gone, but Title I money, typically the district’s largest federal grant allocation, gave the district $216 million to educate students from economically disadvantaged families — which covered expenses like some teachers’ salaries and instructional programs.

The topic of trans athletes has been hotly debated in the Central Bucks School District, which banned trans students from participating on sports teams aligned with their gender identities in 2023, then repealed the ban in November.

Michael Petitti, a spokesperson for the district, said Tuesday the district was aware of Trump’s order and the new PIAA policy. “We continue to evaluate the impact of these changes,” Petitti said. Any changes to district policy will go through the school board, he said.

The Pennridge School District, which has rules distinguishing between bathrooms for “biologically” male or female students and others for students who identify as male or female, declined to comment on the PIAA policy.

The district “is reviewing PIAA’s current stance on the issue and will be discussing it at the school board level,” said Pennridge spokesperson Dave Thomas.

The North Penn School District also did not comment on how it planned to address participation by transgender student athletes, or what its current policy was toward those students. Spokesperson Christine Liberaski said the district would “continue to monitor executive orders and other sources of legal guidance to ensure the district complies with all applicable laws.”